


Souls and Spirits

by TThatGremlin



Series: Spirit of the Lions [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gay Shiro (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Klance is oblivious idiots, Major Character Injury, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Pansexual Hunk (Voltron), Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Underage Drinking, but like space alcohol, edgy keith, idk half of what i put, idk how to tag, pining klance, someone help me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-08-22 14:51:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16600028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TThatGremlin/pseuds/TThatGremlin
Summary: The Paladins of Voltron are fighting a small fleet and Haggar's ship when a mysterious new weapon, combined with the strange elements on the Lions cause an interesting reaction with the Lion's quintessence.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah uh... This is probably most in line with canon around... right after the end of season 6 but the paladins don't have to sacrifice the Castle of Lions, and shiro has already been brought back and gotten his new arm.
> 
> Zarkon-Dead  
> Lotor-Alive  
> Haggar-Alive  
> Shiro black paladin, Keith red but can pilot black, Pidge green, Hunk yellow, Lance blue but can pilot red, Allura can pilot blue, Shiro died and was brought back, have not been to Earth yet  
> Castle of Lions pretty much like canon except it exists  
> Oh, btw all of Lotor's generals are alive and completely well and loyal (Besides Narti, she's blind)  
> uhh if i think of anything else I will add it
> 
> This is a continuation of my other fic... thing called Other Ways a Robotic Arm can Give You a Hand
> 
> please any feedback appreciated, idk how often imma update this kbye i hope yall like it.

On the way down to the med bay, Keith was feeling very embarrassed. He had made a fool of himself trying to ride Shiro’s goddamn _arm _as a skateboard, while Pidge had done it easily. He was the one who should have been able to ride better, but instead, he crashed into Lance, and then barely missed Lance, almost hitting him.__

__The walk down was quite awkward and silent, no one saying anything, and obvious tension between Lance and Keith. In the elevator Keith decided to speak up. “Hey Lance…” “Yeah?” the boy replied. “I wanted to apologise for running into you earlier, and then almost hitting you again.” Keith said, while looking down, his face quite red._ _

__Lance looked surprised and said “Why are you apologising that wasn’t your fault, really. You quiznaking rode a floating prosthetic arm as a skateboard like _fshew _and _zoom _!” while gesturing with his arms to signify motion._____ _

______Keith looked straight (heh straight NOT) at Lance and was also quite surprised. “You aren’t mad at me? Then why haven’t you been talking? Normally you would’ve gone off on the randomest topics for absolutely no reason by now.” “Why would I blame you? It’s not your fault. By the way, have you seen Pidge’s new game yet? Its so quiznaking fun! Like I played it for like 8 hours last night! And there’s this now thing where you can like make and run a mall as one of the side quests and its sooo addicting!” Keith asks, “Lance…” “yes?” “How much sleep did you get last night…?” “Uhhhh……...” Lance trails off and looks away from Keith._ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith looked suspicious immediately and stares accusingly at Lance and the bags under his eyes. “Hey, when I am in the cryopod for my ankle, you need to get some sleep. You can’t just kill yourself over having fun. I’d- We’d miss you, and we need you for Voltron.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Lance sighs and says under his breath so quietly that Keith can only hear little snippets “I’d miss …….. too..”  
Keith looked confused “What did you say?” Lance looks guilty and says “Uhhh I said ‘I’d miss Voltron too!’ Oh look, we are here at the med bay! Get on the table, Mullet.” Lance said, changing the subject. _ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith grudgingly agreed to get on the med table to get scanned for injuries while Coran chuckled at the boys, like he was laughing at some secret joke, then scans Keith. The moustache man says “Well Keith, it could be much worse. You have a broken ankle, so it should only be about 2 vargas before you are out of the Cryopod.” Keith nodded and then walked over to the pods. He took everything out of his pockets and took off his shirt and set it on the floor next to the pod before getting in._ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith looked like he remembered something and addressed the Cuban boy. “Hey Lance!” “Yeah?” “While I am in the pod, get some sleep, ok? Remember, we have that mission soon, and Haggar may show up, so we need to be at peak performance. We can’t do that if one of our teammates has gotten 6 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Lance replied, “Totally! Won’t pass up an opportunity to get some more of my beauty sleep! You can count on me, Red!” Keith looked suspicious, but got in the pod anyways, and drifted off into a dreamless sleep._ _ _ _ _ _

______\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_ _ _ _ _ _

______When Keith awoke, Lance was there still, sitting outside his pod. When Keith got out of the pod, almost falling on his face, He addressed Lance. “Lance, did you get _any _sleep while I was healing?” Lance looked guilty and looked at the floor, red creeping up his face. “Uhhhh… I mean I may have gotten a few doboshes while I was waiting but… ummm… Coran was fixing the Castle of Lions from our last battle, and like some things were losing power, so I was making sure that your pod stayed on so you didn’t like die and stuff. Sorry for trying to make sure Voltron still has all of its paladins.” Keith smirked, “Aww Lance you do care and don’t hate me!” Lance immediately got defensive and said “Nope. No. No. We are friends, rivals, and teammates. I do not care at you at all except platonically a tiny bit, ok? You aren’t even my best friend, thats Hunk. Then Pidge. Then you. I do not care about you at all.”___ _ _ _ _ _

________Keith was quite surprised by this outburst. “Wow. You got really defensive there. Are you okay? Are you _sure _you don’t want to go take a nap right now it is already uhh…” Keith checks his watch, “7PM castle time. Maybe you should go to bed early tonight.” Lance was replied “Psh, nah. I’m good dude. I will go to bed after we have the planning session tonight for the mission.” Keith was still skeptical from his previous outburst and said “Are you sure? The mission isn’t for another week, I can just tell you what the plan is like tomorrow or something. We still have a movement before we go to rescue the people on Quizovador from the Galra.”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Lance grudgingly agreed to get some rest instead of going to the planning meeting and went to his room. Surprisingly, Lance was able to fall asleep after laying there for 15 minutes doing nothing and was able to get a solid 10 hours of sleep, before getting up early to train. He headed over to the training room wearing his armour, bayard in hand, when he runs into Keith. Lance says “Hey, what are you doing here?” Keith replies confused “I’m gonna go work on the new maneuvers that we- Oh wait you weren’t at the meeting.” Lance said “yeah. Hey, while we have a minute, could you explain the meeting to me?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Keith nodded. “Sure. So basically Quizovador is an Earth-like planet in terms of geography. 40% of its surface is covered by an ocean that is toxic to most species except Quizovadorians, it has multiple mountain ranges on its surface, along with plains. Quizovador also has rivers running across the surface. The water on the planet contains an essential nutrient for Quizovadorians to live, so most towns are around water sources such as the rivers or the oceans.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Lance nodded to indicate that he understood all of the information, however he had one question. “Why do the Galra occupy the planet? What do they have to gain from it?” Keith replied saying “That is because of a rare element called Lizdite. Its is a metal used to make stronger walls and spaceships, but in a refined form, it is used to make Particle barriers with twice the strength of normal barriers. The triangle shaped body of the Quizovadorians has some special abilities where it absorbs the Lizdite in the air, and it forms in a solid crystal-like covering over their skin. It can be safely harvested a little bit at a time, but the Galra have enslaved them to harvest the Lizdite at a greater speed. There is no other way to effectively get Lizdite from the atmosphere due to its unique properties of being combustible under the right conditions and other things.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Lance now started to look a little overwhelmed by all of this information. “Wow, that was a _LOT _of information. How do you remember all of that? Like seriously, that was a lot of really useful information but how? Also, what ‘new maneuvers’ are you talking about? You didn’t actually tell me the plan.”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Keith replied, looking sheepish, “Oops sorry, forgot to tell you that part. Basically, you and I will be attacking the main Galra base from the east as a distraction, while Shiro, Pidge, and Hunk infiltrate the base from the south west relying heavily on stealth. We are gonna use the lions to break in, while Shiro’s group has Pidge hack the doors and get in when there is a chance. We have to do special things so then we can kill the sentries and soldiers, while also making a lot of commotion to attract all of the other people. That is what I’m gonna go practice now.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Lance said, “Hey, then can I join you? I have no clue what I am supposed to learn or practice so I should probably learn. Not that I want to train with you, Mullet, just you are the beat person to teach me because we’re gonna be working together.” Keith understood and replied “Of course. I may be able to improve your close combat skills also.” Lance indignantly replied, “Hey, my close combat skills are FINE thank you very much.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Keith gave him a look that said clearly to Lance “I don't believe you at all” but only said “Okay. If you say so.” Keith suddenly got an evil smirk on his face and said, “If your close combat skills are so good, wanna spar once we get the technique down?” Lance immediately replied “You’re on!” Eager for a chance to show up and impres- nope just show up the red paladin._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________The pair made their way over to the training room and started practicing after Keith had explained the moves on the way there. Lance shouted at the room, “Begin training level 4!” The training room responded saying “Beginning training level 4 out of level 10” while the red and blue paladins prepared themselves._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________A robotic gladiator dropped down from the ceiling, wielding a 6 foot Bo staff. At this point, both Lance and Keith were able to beat level 5 gladiators by themselves, but the team generally used level 4 gladiators to train specific moves._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________The duo immediately got to work, Keith rushing in using his sword while Lance hung back shooting the gladiator in the joints and limbs where it will disable it, but not kill it if it was a soldier. That way the soldier would be unable to fight, but still get more soldiers and sentries over to them and away from Shiro's team._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________The paladins made quick work of the gladiator with Keith chopping of its legs while Lance shouted out the shoulders and elbows. After repeating this process for an hour, summoning a gladiator, disabling it, then repeating, the pair decided to take a break._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Lance and Keith sat against the training room wall, drinking the water pouches in silence. Lance asked hesitantly, “Hey Mullet?” “Yeah?” “ It occurs to me that I don't know that much about you. Wanna play 20 questions before we go spar?” “Uhhh… I mean…. Fine. But two conditions.” “What are they?” “ One, it is only 10 questions.” Lance replied without hesitation, “Sure. What's the second?” Keith replied, “You and I must both promise that we will not lie. We are allowed to refuse to answer a question, but no lying. Got it?” “Sure, that seems fair. You want to go first or me?” “You can.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Lance said “Okay, question one. Any siblings?” “Nope, how about you?” “I have 3, Veronica, Marco, and Luis.” Keith nodded and said, “Okay my turn. Uh.. parents/nationality?” “I am fuban with 2 healthy parents on Earth, last I heard. You?” “My dad is dead, my mom is missing last I heard.” Lance seemed surprised and immediately apologized. “I am so sorry, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories.or anything!” He shifted against the wall looking uncomfortable. Keith said, “No it's totally fine. It's been a while. Your turn.” Lance thought for a moment and eventually said, “Any partner or significant other?” “Nope, single. How bout you?” “Single and ready to mingle!” Keith facepalmed and said, disappointed, “PLEASE never say that again. Uhh my turn. Sexual preference? Remember, you can refuse to answer if you want.” “I'm good, thanks though. I am bisexual. You?” “Huh. Interesting. Personally I am gay.” “Huh. Did not know that.” Keith replied, “Wow. It's not like that's the entire point of this game. What question are we on?” “Uh, we are on question 5. Halfway done. Also, Shut your quiznak.” “Fight me.” Lance replied, “Okay. You wanna put this on hold after question 5 and pick this up later after we spar?” “Sure, why not.” Lance said, “Okay, for final question at the moment, what are some of your hobbies?” Keith looked unsure about the question he had been asked.”What do you mean?” Now Lance was confused. “Ya know hobbies? Things you do in your free time?” “I guess I train.” “What else?” “That's about it… I am trying to improve.” “Well then what were some of the things you used to do when you had free time?” “I guess I practiced the flying simulator or I read most of the time. What about you?” Lance's face lit up as he was talking. “I Like to play video games or sew most of the time. Sewing is entertaining z and I can create my own stuff out of just some thread. Whenever I see thread or cloth at a space mall, I always try to buy it for making clothes.” “Huh. That's pretty cool.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Keith then slorped the rest of his water pouch, stood up, and stretched. “Well that was enlightening. Wanna spar now?” “Sure, why not. Time to see who is the better fighter!” Lance said, competitively._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________The two summoned their bayards and stood at opposite ends of the training room. Keith stood slightly crouched, sword in front of him, ready to Sprint across the room. Lance stood with his laser rifle drawn and up to his eye. Keith shouted “Begin sparring sequence!” The room responded saying “You May Begin in 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Begin.” Keith immediately started digging and weaving, somehow avoiding all of the shots Lance sent his way. Keith slowly got closer and closer to Lance while Lance fired faster and faster trying to hit Keith, his gun on the stun setting of course. Keith however, was still gaining ground on him, and was getting ever closer. When Keith was just a few feet away, Lance switched tactics and attempted to hit Keith with his rifle, before going back to shooting. He hit Keith right in the chest, which made him stumble back for a few seconds, giving Lance an opportunity to shoot him. By the time Keith had recovered, he had been shot 3 times, but his armour protected him. When Keith was back on steady feet, he rolled under Lance’s shots and was able to get to him. He tried to use the flat part of his sword to sweep Lance’s feet out from under him, but Lance jumped over it. However, when Lance was off balance from the jump, Keith hooked his foot around Lance’s and hit Lance in the chest with the hilt of his sword, knocking him over. On the way down, Lance dropped his rifle, and landed on his back. Keith kicked the rifle away and pointed his sword at Lance’s neck saying “Surrender.” Lance put his hands up and said, “Fine, fine! I surrender.” Keith helped Lance up and gave him back his rifle._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Lance said sadly, “Well I- You- Tha- You cheated somehow! That wasn’t fair!” Keith had obvious confusion written on his face. “Wha… How.. How did I cheat? Maybe you’re just bad at close combat.” Lance looked extremely offended and was like “Ex fucking scuse me, Mullet? I am incredible at close combat and I look amazing doing it!” Keith muttered under his breath “Well only one of those things is wrong…” Lance didn't hear what Keith said so he said, “What did you say? Were you insulting me?” Keith turned red and said “I just said you are wrong! You aren’t really that great at close combat.” Lance looked offended and opened his mouth to argue but before he could, Keith cut him off. “Nevermind. Lets just drop it.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________The two walked down to the kitchen to get some breakfast, while the rest of the castle started waking up. Hunk and Pidge were already in the kitchen eating a breakfast of Hunk's delicious Spacecakes (space pancakes) when Keith and Lance walked in. Lance looked at what they were eating and said enthusiastically “Yay!! Spacecakes! Hunk, I love you.” When Pidge realized that Lance had walked in with Keith she raised an eyebrow. “Lance, why did you show up with Keith?” Lance replied, “Oh, we were going over the new techniques and sparring together.” Pidge got an evil smirk on her face and said, “Ohh, I see. You were spending time in the training room with Keith, alllll alone with noone around.” When they heard that and realized what Pidge was implying, they both grew red while Lance shouted “We are just teammates, shut your fuck, gremlin.” Pidge said, the smirk growing ever bigger, “No, it's ok. I understand what the purple pair of paladins were up to. By the way, we're gonna have another movie night tonight because yesterday didn't end so well. By the way, how are you feeling, Keith?” Keith said, still red, “I am feeling perfectly fine, thanks.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Hunk, a bystander to all of this, was laughing his ass off since the 'purple pair of paladins’ comment then interjected, “Ok stop fighting you three. What do you want on your pancakes?” Lance said “Hey! They are not pancakes, we are in space, using space ingredients, so they are called Spacecakes.” Hunk sighed and then replied, “Fine. What do you want on your Spacecakes? We have space butter, attempt 7 at space syrup and food goo.” Lance and Keith considered the options while Pidge, still eating her Spacecakes interrupted, saying, “I personally think that attempt number 7 at space syrup is pretty good. You two should try that.” Hunk was confused and so he said, “Wait Pidge, you tried a tiny bit of attempt 7 and said you ha-” but then was cut off by Pidge shushing him and saying “I said I hecking loved it! It's so good!” Lance and Keith, the gullible idiots they are, decided to try attempt 7 on their Spacecakes._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________The purple pair put a large amount of attempt 7 on their food and each dug into their own plates, oblivious to Pidge physically holding herself from bursting into laughter. When Lance and Keith took their first bite, perfectly in sync for some reason, Pidge and Hunk went fucking insane. They burst into laughter while the purples spat it out into the trash can. Hunk said “By the way, people tend to dislike attempt 7 for some reason. Next time you should ask the cook about the taste, not some short gremlin.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________The two went back to the raining room and continued training, stopping for meals, until that night._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________\---------------------------------------------------_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________That night, at 4 PM castle time, all of the paladins, along with Allura and Coran were in the lounge again. Tonight they were watching the first Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone. Halfway through the movie, they stopped for snacks and bathroom breaks._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Shiro was once again sitting next to Allura, Lance and Keith next to each other on the couch, Pidge on the floor in front of Keith and Hunk on the floor in front of Lance. Coran was once again chilling in his recliner on the other side of the room, across from Allura._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Hunk got up to make more popcorn, while Allura and Coran got up to go to the bathroom. This left Shiro, Lance, Keith, and Pidge in the room. Shiro and Pidge made eye contact and knew what the other was thinking. Pidge spoke up, “Hey guys…?” Lance said “Yeah, Pidgey?” While Keith said “What?” Pidge and Shiro looked at each other and burst into laughter. Pidge managed to gasp out, through the tears of laughter, “Rem-Remember the last movie night? Yesterday? With the -HAHHHA- Ho-Hoverboard?” Lance said “Uh, yeah” while Keith said “Very vividly” Pidge said “Wellllll… Shiro you explain.” Shiro responded, still laughing, “I would imagine that you were better at riding a skateboard than my arm, right?” Keith looked down and turned red, remembering the events of yesterday. He then said sadly “Yeah. Way better at a skateboard.” Shiro said “Yeah, there is a reason for that.” Keith was now very suspicious, and not very trusting. “What.. exactly is that reason?” Shiro and Pidge looked at each other and then Shiro spoke up. “Wellllll I MAY have uh… how you say, had a HAND in that.” Everyone in the room looked at Shiro with a look that just said, 'no. Just fucking no.’ Shiro chuckled at his own joke, but he was the only one. He continued, “I helped Pidge do those tricks and made it much much harder for you to ride effectively.” Lance was quite shocked and indignant. “Hey! Mullet hurt his ankle because of that! Oh, and myself I guess. That was very awkward yesterday. But anyways, that was super childish of you. What are you, 11?” Shiro and Keith said at the exact same time “I'm 7” and “He's 7”, which was quite confusing to the blue and green paladins._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Lance asked “Wait what do you mean?” Keith said “That's his mental age.”. Shiro was quite offended. “I'm a lea- wait what do you mean my mental age?” Keith said quite calmly “That is how mature your mind is.” “Yeah no, I know what mental age is, but what do you mean that my mental age is 7?” Keith understood and said “You're kinda childish sometimes and just immature.” Shiro was still confused but said “We will discuss this later. Anyways, the real reason that Keith said I am 7 is that I was born on February 29th.” Pidge and Keith understood now. “Ah, a leap year baby. Wait. That means you aren't the team dad, you are the team baby!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________At the moment Lance said that, the rest of the team walked in. Hunk asked “Wait, who is a baby?” Lance immediately spoke up saying “I just learned that-” but was cut off by being tripped by Shiro's floating arm. “Shiro!!!! Watch your arm!” Shiro said extremely insincerely “Sorry. Anyways, Lance was gonna say that he learned about what happened yesterday.” Lance remembered what happened yesterday and what the effects of it were. “That wasn’t a very nice thing to do, Shiro! You hurt Mullet’s ankle and gave him bruises! Oh, and gave me bruises. You also caused us to get in some… uncomfortable positions with way more contact than prefered.” All of the other people, save Keith and Lance, were laughing their asses off, remembering the events of yesterday. Lance got pissed off and shouted, “HEY! Making Keith damage his good lo- his good... at skateboarding self is not funny! He was hurt, and could have been much more seriously hurt!” The entire team went quiet at Lance’s unexpected outburst. After a few seconds, Shiro said, “Lance, you are right. It was my idea. I am sorry.” Lance still looked mad. “Don’t apologize to me! Apologize to the person who’s ankle you quiznaking BROKE!” Keith said, “Lance, its fine. It was just a joke.” Lance shouted, “It is NOT fine! You could have been killed! I- We need you, Mullet!” Keith said, starting to get annoyed, “Lance, me and Shiro will resolve this later. Can you just drop it please?” lance, still visibly upset said, “Fine…”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Movie night ended without any more disturbances._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Almost a movement later, all of the paladins were going over the plan. Shiro, the team dad and team leader said, “Okay, does anyone have any more questions about the plan?” When no one spoke up, Shiro said, “In that case, we leave at 7 am castle time next quintaint. Everyone make sure to get some sleep so you can function. Goodnight! Off to bed with you all!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


	2. Haggar's new toy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhhhh sorry it took so long for me to update, im not really that fast of a writer and I was out of town for a week so.... sorry heres the next part, idk how long this is gonna go, but I am setting some things up for the main arc of this AU. This is kinda a short chapter, but I am pretty sure the next one is gonna be longer so I assume this is better than making a super long chapter that doesn't get uploaded for ages.

The next morning, Lance got up at 5 am castle time. He set his alarm for extra early so he could have a chance to practice and eat before the mission. He went straight to the training room, seeing nothing and noone on the way. It seemed kind of eerie, not seeing any service bots, because typically he would have passed at least 2 or 3 by now. He got to the training room and was about to shout “Begin training level 4!” but then he realized someone was already in there. He peeked in the doorway, making sure to be quiet as a mouse, checking to see who was in there. He was quite surprised to see the Keith in there, who had obviously been there for a while based on the sweat dripping down his muscles and handsome fac- NOPE NOT GOING THERE DEFINITELY NOT. Lance turned red, just from about to think some stuff that was definitely not okay. “Stupid, stupid, Lance!” he muttered hitting himself in the head. Keith, hearing the soft impacts, looked at the doorway and saw Lance there. The second of distraction gave the gladiator a chance to get a good hit in on Keith with its staff, sending Keith flying back 10 feet. Lance immediately drew his bayard, and before Keith even stopped sliding, had already shot the gladiator 7 times. By the time Keith had unfrozen, the gladiator was disabled. Lance ran over to the red paladin, lying on the ground, and offered him a hand up, which he gratefully accepted. Once he was standing, they held on a second more than necessary. Lance turned red and said “Shit Keith, are you okay? I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to distract you.” Keith looked surprised and said, “Lance, its fine. Not your fault I got distracted when you walked in. But why are you up so early?” Lance said , “I could ask the same to you.” Keith shrugged and said, “I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to train. What about you?” Lance muttered quietly under his breath, “I wanted to train so I wasn’t as much of a burden on the team…” Keith asked him to repeat that. “What did you say? I couldn’t hear you.” Lance looked up and said, “Oh, I just wanted to improve my already amazing skills for today. Wait, you said you couldn’t sleep. Does that mean you didn’t get any sleep at all?” Keith quickly turned away and wouldn’t look at Lance. “Uh… mayyybee?” 

Lance immediately got annoyed. “Keith! We have a battle in 2 hours! You can’t just pull an all nighter the night before one of the more essential missions! If we can free Quizovador, then we will be able to stop the Galra from making extra powerful shields! That will make future battles way easier! Well, once we take out the remaining ships that already have the shields that is. It is currently,” Lance checks his watch, “5:07 AM castle time. You go back to your room and get at least 30 minutes of sleep. Promise me that you will get at least 30 minutes of sleep before the mission.” Keith sighed and said, “I will not promise to get sleep,” Lance inhaled sharply, clearly about to argue, but Keith held up his hand before Lance started talking. “BUT I promise to try to get sleep. I don’t know if I will be able to get any, but I promise to try.” Lance grudgingly said, “Fine. I’ll take what I can get. While you do that, I will make you a pot of space coffee for when you get up. Deal?” Keith grudgingly agreed, and Lance sent him back to his room, while Lance went to go make coffee.

At 6:30 am castle time, Keith had gotten a full hour of sleep, so he was less fatuiged, but felt like shit. Keith dragged himself into the kitchen, where he saw Lance digging into a large plate of Spacecakes with space butter on them. Keith yawned and stretched his arms over his head. “Go-Good mornin…” Lance looked up at the sleepy red paladin and smirked. “You awake there, sleepyhead? Here, I made you some space coffee so you don’t feel like death.” Keith grabbed a cup of space coffee and said, “Lance, why do you insist on putting space in front of every single thing? It just doesn’t really make much sense. It’s just annoying.” And a little cute. Keith shook his head. Where did that thought come from? 

Keith ate his breakfast and drank some space coffee so he didn’t feel dead on his feet during the mission, and everyone else slowly joined Lance and Keith.

By 7:00 am castle time, everyone was in their lions for the mission. Shiro said, “Paladins, check in!”

“Yellow, ready.”

“Green, ready.”

“Blue is ready to go destroy some Galra!”

“Red, ready.”

“Well then, Paladins move out!” All of the Lions shot out of the hangers in the castle of Lions and headed for Quizovador. They flew down to the base and started enacting their plan. Blue and Red headed for the east side of the base, while Black, Yellow, and Green turned on cloaking that Pidge had installed on all of the Lions and headed for the west side of the base. It was a fairly large base in the shape of a hexagon with many turrets and sentries around the perimeter. Shiro's voice came in over the coms. “Remember, we can't enter through the middle of the base because that is where the Quizovadorians are being held, so the Lizdite in the air around it would cause us to explode, killing all of them if we try to break in that way. However, that means that once we get to the center if the base, we can't use lasers anymore. Got it, Lance?” “Yeah yeah, I understand.” Shiro replied “In that case, go for it!” 

The Red and Blue Lions used their lasers to destroy a hole in the side of the base, setting off the alarms and, unbeknownst to them, sending an alert to Lotor's ship. 

Lotor was sitting at his throne, trying to figure out how to locate Voltron when a commander ran into the room and kneeled before him. “Your highness! We have gotten an alert from Quizovador that they are being attacked by the Red and Blue lions!” Lotor turned to his side, where Haggar was standing. “Haggar, go to them. Test out your new weapon that you have made. It will be a beautiful test run. If two if the Lions are there, the other three are most likely there too. You know what to do.” Haggar said, “Of course, Emperor Lotor. I will not fail you. I will be there in half a varga.” 

Back on Quizovador, Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge were infiltrating the base. Pidge crawled in through the air vents with Rover and opened the door without setting off any alarms. Luckily, all of the Galra sentries and soldiers were on the other side of the base, dealing with Keith and Lance, so the trip were able to get closer and closer to the center of the base. On the other side of the base, Lance and Keith were killing everything in sight. They had left the Lions outside the base to wait for them, while they went inside. Lasers were flying at them while Lance shot the sentries shooting at them, and Keith slashed in half the sentries he could reach. Eventually,they destroyed or disabled all of the sentries in that area, and started heading closer to the center of the base.

Keith smelled a slightly metallic scent, mixed in with a few other smells because of his heightened Galra senses. “Lance,” he whispered, “we are close enough to the center of the base that you cannot shoot anymore, so we dont die, okay? There is too much Lizdite in the air.” Lance nodded and they advanced. Keith spoke up again, “I'll try to cover you so you don't get killed. Got it?” They kept walking forward until they came upon a door that wouldn't open, even when Keith tried to open it.

Lance said “I'll try to get the door open, you cover me, okay?” Keith nodded and turned around right as 4 Galra sentries came around the corner. The sentries were carrying different t guns than the other sentries they had fought previously. They started shooting while Keith said, “Quiznak.” 

Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge still hadn't run into any guards or sentries. They came upon the control room, and so they decided to go inside to see if they could get more information about Lotor's plans. When they walked in, there were 6 guards running around frantically. They were immediately taken care of by the Paladins. Pidge ran over to the computer and plugged in Rover, who started downloading information. While Pidge was doing that, Hunk went to go check to see if the guards had called for backup. Hunk saw something and called out to the other paladins. “Guys? We have a problem.”

Shiro ran over and said “What's the problem?” Hunk pointed at the screen and said “This shows that about 3 quarters of a varga ago, approximately when Keith and Lance broke into the base, a transmission was seen to Lotor's ship. He knows we're here.” Pidge gasped and said “Fuck.” Shiro turned around so fast he almost got whiplash and said “Language, young lady!” Pidge replied, deadpanned, “English.” Shiro sighed and rubbed his face, “We will discuss this later. For now, we need to tell Keith and Lance.” 

Shiro turned on his comms and said “Keith, Lance? We have a problem.” The sound of shots came in over the comms and they heard Keith say “We kind of have a problem too! The Galra have guns that can shoot without detonating the Lizdite apparently. We are almost at the prisoners, but we are held up by this door.” Shiro replied, “Well you may want to hurry up a bit. Almost a varga ago a transmission was sent to Lotor, so backup will be here any minute.” Keith said, “Quiznak. You guys get out and prepare for an attack, we will get the prisoners and meet you.” Shiro said, grudgingly, “Fine, but be quick.” He turned to Hunk and Pidge and said, “Hurry up with your downloading. The moment it is done, we are leaving.” Pidge spoke up and said, “It just finished. Let's go.”

Back over at the door, things were not going too well. There were still two sentries left, and it was hard to destroy them and protect Lance at the same time. Keith saw an opening to destroy one of them and went for it, however, when he destroyed the sentry, he heard a scream. Keith whirled around and saw that in the time it took him to destroy the sentry, the other had a chance to attack Lance and shot him in the back. Keith immediately threw his sword at the other sentry, piercing it's back and protruding out it's chest, but before it even made contact Keith ran over to Lance. 

Lance said,gasping for breath, obviously in pain, “I got the door open. Go get the prisoners. I'll be here in the 30 seconds it takes you to run in. There, grab them, and leave.” Keith obeyed and ran over to tell door. He opened it and saw 23 Quizovadorians in the room. Luckily, most of them were fit to walk. The Quizovadorians were about 3 feet tall, orange, with triangular bodies and faces directly on the bodies. They hard short arms and legs on their sides and under them. (Imagine a walking, talking Dorito) Keith said to them, “Hello! I am a paladin of Voltron and I am here to rescue you. Follow me!” One the Quizovadorians were obviously old and wounded, so Keith carried that one for a bit, until the group got back to Lance.He passed the old Quizovadorian to one of its family members and started carrying Lance to the Lions. They got most of the way without incident, until they got back to the hole.

There were about 30-40 sentries grouped up in front of the hole, blocking the way to the Lions. The group ducked behind a corner and tried to come up with a plan. The old Quizovadorian called Keith over. “If you want to get everyone out of here, you should sacrifice me. I am very old and I am injured. I am weakened to the point where I will die from my injuries. I could make everyone get out here safe. Will you allow me to do this?” Keith obviously did not like this, but grudgingly allowed him to, because he knew it was the best chance of Lance surviving. “What do you need me to do?” The Quizovadorian smiled at Keith and said, “All you need to do is throw me at them. Thank you for allowing me to help save my friends and family.” Keith nodded and said “When you’re ready.

Keith picked up the Quizovadorian and threw them like a frisbee to the middle of the sentries then ducked behind the corner half a second before an explosion rocked the building. Shiro's voice broke in over the comms “Are you guys okay? What was that?” Keith replied, “No, we aren't okay. Lance has been shot in the back, and that explosion was one of the prisoners sacrificing themselves so tell rest of us could get out alive. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be able to escape. We are almost in the Lions now.” Keith carried Lance over to the Blue lion, and then headed to the Red lion with 11 Quizovadorians in each. They launched into the sky and meet up with the rest of the Paladins. Shiro said, “Lance, are you okay to fly?” 

Lance's voice broke in over the comms “Yeah, I'm totally fine, don't worry about me.” The other paladins were a little skeptical because of how Keith explained his injury, and how Lance's voice was wavering and a little broken, but no one argued. 

Shiro said, “There's a fleet just outside of the atmosphere, waiting for us. We should form Voltron sooner rather than later.”

 

Keith spoke up, “How many battleships are we up against? 2? 3?” as they left the atmosphere.

Shiro replied, “Not exactly. There are 10 battleships and…. Haggar's ship? What is that giant thing sticking out of it?” Haggar's ship looked like the command ship, but smaller, and with a giant gun sticking out of it. 

Coran said “Our scanners show that it is a weapon designed to destroy the bond between the Lions’ quintessence and the Lions themselves. It would be extremely bad if Voltron got hit by it, so you should take it out.”

Shiro said, “You heard him. Let's take out the battleships first, then go for Haggar's ship. On me, form Voltron!”

The Lions joined together into the giant robot Voltron and started destroying the battleships. 

Voltron was shooting through space, using the sword to slice ships in half, dodging lasers left and right, and the battle looked to be in their favor. However, Haggar started charging her secret weapon up, and aimed at Voltron. Voltron, at the time, was caught in between the tractor beams of 3 other battleships at the time, so it was extremely difficult for Voltron to move, and the movement that they achieved was very slow. Voltron finally got to one of the ships and destroyed it when Haggar’s weapon started charging up. By the time Voltron destroyed the second, Haggar was aiming, and as Voltron was streaking across space to the final ship, Haggar had fired and a large purple beam shot across to VOltron, however none of the Paladins noticed, until it was too late. The large, unnaturally purple beam hit Voltron right in the chest (The black lion), and Voltron split apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the cliffhanger, I promise you that I am already working on the next part, sadly idk when its gonna be out so... Sorry if the fight scenes feel a bit rushed, as I said before, this is the first time I've really tried writing anything so not much experience. Please, any feedback is appreciated, thanks for reading bye


	3. Meeting the Spirits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for another short chapter, I was trying to get this next chapter out asap and I figured this would be a good place to stop.

The moment Haggar’s weapon hit Voltron, all of the paladins immediately knew something was very wrong. Voltron split apart, without any of the paladins doing anything. It was like Haggar broke the bonds holding Voltron together. “Uh, guys? Can you guys feel your lions? Like, I can still feel Blue, but she feels a lot farther away, and I don’t feel her inside the actual Lion ship.” Lance said, worried, over the comms. “Everything is still working, I just can’t feel her.” 

Hunk responded, “Yeah, same with me. I can’t feel Yellow either, do you think Haggar’s weapon did something?” sounding a little bit nervous.

Pidge said, “Most likely, I can’t feel Green. How about you, Shiro and Keith?” The other two paladins agreed, saying that their Lion’s quintessence felt much farther away.

Shiro, the leader and Space Dad he was, said to everyone “Okay, we have flown these Lions hundreds of times, we know how to work them, even if the Lions aren’t telling us what to do. Remember to work as a team. Hunk, you attack the new weapon, Keith and Lance work on taking out Haggar’s weapons. Pidge, you try to hack into Haggar’s ship for any useful information and try to disable the ship while you’re at it. I am going to try to take out Haggar’s shields. Go!” All of the paladins split up to do their assigned tasks, however, the moment they started moving, Haggar opened a wormhole and got away before the Lions even got there. “Well, I guess there goes that plan. In that case, get back to the Castle of Lions, we need to get those prisoners to the med bay, and figure out what happened to the Lions,” said the black paladin.

As the paladins got closer to the castle Hunk spoke up, “Hey, do you guys feel like you’re getting nearer to the Lions? Like, it almost seems like the Lions are in the Castle.” The other paladins indeed felt this way too, and said so quickly.

Each paladin flew their Lions into their hangers, and were met with a surprise once there. Lance left Blue and walked into the hanger, intending to meet up with the others in the bridge, but there was a HUMAN in the hanger. Lance felt many emotions at once including confusion, excitement, and suspicion and spoke to the woman. “Who are you?” while drawing his bayard and pointing it at the woman shakily, still obviously in pain. 

The woman looked in her early twenties, and looked very similar to Lance, so much so that she could have even passed off as siblings or twins, just female. She had light brown skin and hair that went down to the middle of her back. The woman had eyes as blue as the ocean and a face that could only be described as beautiful, and was wearing blue paladin armor just like Lance's. She spoke, “Lance, I know you are confused. I am Evangeline, but you already know me.” 

Lance realized that standing next to Evangeline, the bond with Blue felt so close, it was like he was standing right next to Blue, but Blue was on the other side of the hanger. “Blue…?” Lance spoke hesitatingly.

Evangeline smiled and said “Yes, I am Blue.” Lance was shocked, but not extremely so. 

“We definitely need to tell the others, lets go to the bridge.”

(Keith’s POV)

Keith flew Red into her hanger, and it seemed cold and empty in the cockpit without the comforting feeling of Red all around him. He left Red feeling very drained and confused about what happened with Haggar, and worried about Lance. Keith (like Lance) saw a woman that looked like a mix between his mother and father, with eyes like amethyst and a pretty yet strong face. She was wearing red paladin armour identical to Keith's. In half a second Keith had his Marmora blade drawn in his right hand and his bayard drawn in his right. “Who the quiznak are you?” 

The woman spoke “Put down your weapons, I am not here to harm you. I am Leoni, but you may know me better as Red.” 

Keith was quite confused and said, “What do you mean?” before realizing that standing next to Leoni made him feel like he was standing right next to Red, with the warm comforting feeling enveloping him. “We need to talk to the others.”

(Shiro’s POV)

Shiro flew Black back to the hanger, and left her while trying to figure out what happened to the Lions and what he would say to the others when he saw a woman. He calmly walked over to her and asked her to introduce herself, getting a hunch who she was based on how as he walked toward her, he felt like he was walking toward Black.

The woman looked similar to Shiro, in her mid to late twenties with black eyes that weren’t empty, but warm and welcoming and held herself confidently, like she always knew what she was doing. The woman was wearing black paladin armor just like his own. She said, “Hello, Shiro, I am Susan, I believe you already know who I am.”

“Are you Black?” Shiro asked, trying to make sure he was correct before assuming anything.

The woman smiled and said, “Yes, you are correct my paladin.”

Shiro replied, “We should probably go talk to the others.

(Hunk’s POV)

Hunk flew back to the Castle of Lions and set Yellow down in her hanger, very scared and nervous for his lion because there was obviously something wrong with her. As he left Yellow trying to figure out what happened, he saw a woman. (Seeing a pattern?) She looked to be in her early to mid twenties with kind and helpful yellow eyes, and she looked to be a loving person in general. The woman was wearing yellow paladin armor. Hunk was quite confused and said, “Uh, did we get another human that I didn’t know about sometime in the last,” Hunk checks his watch and sees that it is 10:13 am castle time, “2 hours or so? Because I don’t think I’ve met you.”

The woman laughed and said, “Hello, Hunk. My name is Addy, but we already met. I am Yellow, your Lion.”

Hunk was very confused and looked between Addy and Yellow (I should clarify that from now on I will be using the human names to talk about the humans and the colors to talk about the lions themselves). He said “Wait you’re… Yellow? What? How? We need to figure out what’s happening, lets go to the bridge.”

(Pidge’s POV)

Pidge flew back to Green’s hanger uneasily, trying to figure out what Haggar did to the Lions and how. As she walked out of Green she saw… a WOMAN! (Oh mah gosh much wow who would have thought plot twist of the year omg wow) She looked in her late teens with ginger hair going down do her shoulders and was wearing green paladin armour like Pidge's. The woman had green eyes that reminded Pidge of a meadow in spring, and wore circular glasses with a black rim. “Hi, uh, who are you?” Pidge asked the woman.

The woman spoke, “Greetings, Pidge. You may call me Kira, however, we have already met. I am Green, your lion.”

IPidge was surprised, “What really? Wow, damn. Uhh we should probably tell the others, lets go to the bridge.”

(Back to normal randomly switching POV)

All of the paladins got to the bridge at the same time with their new friends and said in perfect unison, “We have a problem.”

Allura and Coran said at the same time, “We know. We have a problem too.” 

Next to them were standing a sixth person. This woman was the most unusual out of them all. She had silky and shiny black hair that went down to her back, Her right eyebrow was red, her right eye was yellow, her left eyebrow was lime green and her left eye was ocean blue. The sixth woman spoke, “Salutations, paladins, princess, and of course Coran. You all must be very confused as to what has happened. The weapon that Haggar fired at you was intended to destroy our quintessence, but due to the Lizdite coating the Lions, it offered as another layer of protection against it, adding on to the extensive armor already on the Lions. Therefore, instead of destroying our quintessence, it was sent back to the Castle of Lions in the form of a the species of our pilots. That is how Evangeline, Leoni, Susan, Addy, Kira, and I came to be. We are the physical embodiment of your Lions.” 

Lance spoke up, “Yeah uh, even though Bob called me the dumb one, that doesn't mean that I can't count. There's five Lions and six of you…. Spirits? Souls? Whatever. There's six of you. Who are you?” Lance pointed at the sixth woman.

The woman spoke, “Souls are a better representation of what we are. My name is Kasel, and I am the spirit of Voltron. I have more to explain however.”

Before Kasel could continue speaking, all of the paladins started talking at once.

“What do you mean you're the spirit of Voltron?”

“Does this mean that the Lions are just nifty spaceships now?”

“How would Haggar's weapon make you guys like this?”

‘“Are you spirits fully human or what?”

Shiro yelled, “Everybody stop talking and let Kasel speak!”

Everybody stopped talking and the other paladins chorused in a monotonous tone, “Okay Dad.”

Kasel spoke, “Thank you. Now, I will attempt to answer some of your questions. Even though the Voltron robot is made of the Lions, Voltron is a separate entity entirely, and such has different quintessence. Before our quintessence was fully separated from the Lions, we implemented a feature so when the spirits walk into their respective Lions, a second pilot's chair appears that we can sit in to temporarily reconnect to the Lions, and that will make the Lions extra powerful. However, the chair will only appear after the bond between spirit and lion is especially strong, and when there is great need for it. Once the chair appears, it will not disappear. Haggar's weapon did this due to the layer of Lizdite on the Lions. Lizdite reacts unusually to raw quintessence, so the expelled quintessence formed a human form once back in their homes. Us spirits are not human, we are raw quintessence just in a form that looks like and acts like human. However, as we are not human we do not need to eat, we will not get tired, and we do not feel exhaustion. We also have incredibly high quintessence levels. For a point of reference, each spirit has over 10 times the quintessence Allura and Coran had combined when they first awoke from their cryopods. Are there any more questions?”

No one spoke up, so Shiro took it as nobody had any questions. “I guess not. We all should some food in us and some rest or relaxation. That was a hard battle and a lot of information to digest. Everyone should try to bring their spirits with them to get a stronger bond with them, okay?” Everyone nodded in acknowledgement.

Hunk said, “I am gonna make some lunch, probably spaghetti,” Lance made an annoyed face and opened his mouth but then Hunk said, “Sorry, spaceghetti.” Lance closed his mouth. “It will be done in an hour or so at most.” Pidge walked off with Kira saying something about working on Green. Keith went off to train with Leoni. Hunk went to go cook in the kitchen with Addy. Shiro and Susan stayed on the bridge with Kasel, Allura, and Coran while Lance went to go shower and then hang out in the lounge with Evangeline.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

(On Lotor’s Ship)

Haggar kneels before Lotor at the throne. “Emperor,” she says, “when I left the weapon appeared to be a success. The Lion’s quintessence has been destroyed, it will no longer be a problem. What is my next task?”

Lotor scanned Haggar with his eyes, trying to deduce if she was keeping anything from him. Finally he said, “Rise. I have a task for you. You must find me a way to get into and back from the quintessence zone.” He thought to himself, ‘That will be a good way to keep that witch busy while I recover Zarkon’s corpse. If all goes to plan… Voltron will bend before the might of the Galra Empire.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops another cliffhanger sorry. This chapter was mainly for background on the spirits and I didn't really know where this fic was gonna go after this but now I have a few ideas so... I will try to get the next chapter out asap, but I still have no clue when it will be out, sorry. Anyways, hope you enjoyed and feedback is always appreciated!


	4. The Generals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some interesting side effects of the Spirits separating from the Lions surface.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhh sorry it's been so long without an update, idrk how long it has been, all I know is that I've been really busy with finals and stuff so sorry. Anyways well enjoy please!

Lotor contacted his generals to perform a task. “What do you require, emperor?” Zethrid said, once the call had connected.

Lotor said, “I need you to track down the corpse of previous emperor Zarkon and then bring me all of the ships made from the comet.”

Zethrid replied, “Yes, Emperor Lotor. Vrepit Sa.” And with a hand over her chest, the call disconnected.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Castle of Lions)

 

Lance and Evangeline walked toward his room in awkward silence. Once they got to his room, Evangeline started exploring it while Lance took a shower. Lance hopped in the shower and was met with unbearable burning pain in his back, and Lance was confused for half a second before he remembered the laser wound. With all of the excitement with the spirits, it had completely faded from his mind. Unfortunately, the burning hot water that Lance showers in appeared to open up the wound again. Lance barely had time to put pants on and get out into his room where Evangeline was waiting for him when he promptly said, “Ow” and passed out from blood loss and the pain.

Evangeline was freaking out. She didn’t know that much about human anatomy, but she knew that if a human says ‘Ow’ then it means that they are in pain, and if they become unconscious then something is very wrong. Based on the half inch deep bloody hole in his back, she assumed that that was the cause of his problems. However, she has spent almost all of her time in the castle at the hanger, and now the bridge and Lance’s room, so she didn’t know what to do. She thought and realized that Leoni’s paladin was in his room changing to go train, so she went to him to get help.

Keith was in his room taking off his paladin armor when he heard a knock on his door. He answered the door, and was surprised to see a girl that looked remarkably like Lance there. Keith said, “Hi… Uh, you’re Evangeline, right?”

Evangeline replied, “Yes, that is me. I require a bit of assistance.”

Keith thought, wow, she looks just like if Lance was a girl. She even has his good lo- Keith shook his head to clear his thoughts. “Uh what do you need, Evangeline?”

Evangeline spoke, “Lance seems to be in a bit of pain. I assume the hot water in the shower is the cause of it. Could you come with me and help him?”

Keith was more than a little confused, but agreed. “Sure. How much pain is he in, and why do you think he is in pain? Do you still have a connection with him so you can feel what he feels?”

Evangeline spoke, walking next to Keith on the way to Lance’s room, “Yes, I can feel what he feels. He walked into the room from his bathroom, where I was waiting, said ‘ow’ and layed down.”

Keith sighed, thinking That is such a Lance thing. Putting the water on too hot. Totally his fault. “Okay. Let's see wh-” but broke off as he walked into Lance’s room. He saw Lance lying on the floor with a fairly large and deep hole in his back, unconscious, and covered in blood. He immediately remembered when Lance got shot in the back when Keith was supposed to be guarding him and felt guilty. “You didn’t say he had a giant HOLE in his back, that he was unconscious, or that he was covered in blood!!!” He roared at Evangeline, obviously panicked and scared. “The hot water must have aggravated it.” he muttered to himself, kneeling next to Lance. He looked up and said, “Find Coran and tell him to prepare a cryopod. Then find Shiro and tell him what happened. Make sure you make it very clear that Lance is very seriously hurt. Understand?”

Evangeline nodded and ran off.

Keith picked up Lance bridal style, being very careful to avoid the hole in his back, and started carrying him to the med bay. The entire way there, Keith was beating himself up over letting this happen to Lance and then forgetting about it. He kept running horrible scenarios in his mind, such as Lance dying in his arms and then the entire team getting so mad at him that he is kicked out of Voltron and then he has to go to the BoM and then they hate him too for killing a paladin and thus making it impossible to form Voltron and then they kill his mom for being related to a traitor and then they feed him to a giant space worm. Long story short, Keith was freaking out. By the time he got to the med bay, all of the paladins were there and a cryopod was ready for Lance. Keith put Lance, Lance still only wearing pants, into the cryopod. All of the paladins stood in silence, watching the pain melt from Lance’s face as he fell into a painless sleep. After about 10 doboshes, Keith spoke. “Coran, do you know how long it will take for Lance to heal?”

Coran spoke, his moustache drooping in an obvious frown. “I am not sure, but it could be anywhere from 3 quintaints to a movement. Oh, that's about from 3 Earth days to one Earth week, give or take a day or two.”

Keith disliked hearing this news. If he had been paying attention and protecting Lance like he was supposed to, then none of this would have happened. This was all his fault. And now Lance was hurt, we have to deal with all of this Spirit business, and we have no clue where Haggar or Lotor are, or what they’re up to. If Keith had been good enough at fighting and protecting Lance, none of this would’ve happened. He should have been better. He needs to be better. If he doesn’t improve, maybe next time he won’t be so lucky. He can’t lose Lance.

The other paladins slowly drift off to go bond with their Spirits more, and relax for the next few days. Shiro told Keith that they weren’t going on any missions short of emergencies until the team was back up at full strength. He stays in the med bay until he passes out from exhaustion. The next morning, when Keith wakes up he checks on Lance again before going to go get breakfast. He eats a small breakfast and then goes to train for the rest of the day. He then goes back to the med bay and watches Lance before falling asleep in front of Lance’s pod again. Early the next morning, Keith is woken up by a sound then the feeling of something heavy landing on him. Keith jerked awake trying to figure out what happened and what was on him. It was still dark in the med bay, so it wasn’t very easy for Keith to figure out what it was. It was warm. It had hair. It was wearing pants? What is it? Keith jumped in shock once he fully realized where he was and what that means in terms of what was on him. It was Lance.

“Lance? What? Why are you out of the pod? You weren’t supposed to be done for at LEAST another 2 quintaints! Are you all healed?”

Lance tried to process all of Keith’s rapid fire questions, still trying to shake off the remaining grogginess from waking up in the cryopod. “Uh… yeah I feel fine. What.. What time is it? Why is it so dark?”

Keith spoke, also still groggy from just being woken up in the middle of the night by his favorite Cuban falling on him, “It’s about 3am castle time. I am still confused though. Coran said you wouldn’t be done for 2 more quintaints at minimum. How are you already healed?”

Lance replied, “No, the real question is why are you laying outside my cryopod at 3am?”

Keith realized that he was still laying down in front of Lance’s cryopod, covered by a single blanket. He also realized that he had the blue paladin basically laying on top of himself. He pushed Lance off of him as he got up, and hoped Lance didn’t see his blush. 

 

“Uhh I was.. uh…..” Keith trailed off without giving an actual answer.

Lance smirked at Keith. “Keithy, why were you outside of my cryopod in the middle of the night? Were you worried about me?” Lance said teasingly.

Keith turned even redder, if that was possible, “No.. I just….”

Lance’s smirk grew even bigger. “You just what? Hmm?”

Keith got very angry and swung back around to face Lance. “I was scared, okay? Its my fault that you got shot, so if something happened to you it would be all my fault!” A tear leaked out of Keith’s eye, and Lance’s smirk vanished. Keith turned away from Lance and looked at his feet. 

Lance spoke, much more somberly, “Keith. Did you order those sentries to shoot at me? Did you pull the trigger on the gun?”

Keith replied quietly, still looking away from Lance, “No..”

“Then it was not your fault. You did nothing wrong, don’t blame yourself for it.”

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes until Keith spoke up, “How are you out of your cryopod so soon? Coran said that you wouldn’t be done for like another 2 days at least. It's been like a little over 12 hours.”

Lance looked confused and said, “What do you mean? I feel fine. It's not like I could heal a blaster wound in my back at will, right? Maybe Coran read the thing wrong?”

Keith pursed his lips and said, “I guess it's possible. How about we wait until the morning to ask him though. Even if you did do some magic healing thing, you should still get some sleep.”

Lance whined at Keith, “Okay, MOM. I'll get some sleep like a good little boy.” 

Keith shook his head at Lance as if to say 'What am I gonna do with you’ and the pair walked to their rooms and went to sleep.

\------------------------------------------------------

The next morning the Paladins woke up with a scare. Keith jerked awake when he heard the alarms going off in the Castle. He leaped out of bed, threw on his Paladin armor, which was still a little bit scuffed from training yesterday, and ran to the bridge. He got there in record time and noticed that everyone else was there already except for him and Lance. Keith went up to Coran and asked him hurriedly, “What happened? Why are the alarms going off?” 

Coran looked grim and worried. “It appears Lance has been kidnapped. Hunk went to go check on Lance this morning, but his pod was empty.” 

Keith turned red and looked away. “Oh. You can turn off the alarms, Lance is safe.” In the excitement of the alarms, Keith had temporarily forgotten about the events of early that morning. 

All of the Paladins looked at Keith and Coran spoke again. “What do you mean Lance is safe? He is gone and injured, I don’t think he’s right as falling flaming rocks quite yet!”

Keith looked back at Coran and said, “I think you may have read the cryopod wrong. He is already out and fully healed. Do you want me to go get him?” A thought suddenly occurred to Keith. “Did anyone actually check his room? Where are the Spirits? And where are the prisoners? I haven’t seen any of them since yesterday.”

Coran gave Keith a look that he couldn’t quite interpret and spoke, “The Quizovadorians have taken up quarters on one of the other floors in the castle, and I believe the Spirits are out exploring the castle or in their rooms which are one hallway over from the Paladin’s rooms. You should probably go get Lance so we can figure out what happened.” 

Keith walked out of the bridge and went to Lance’s room. How has he not woken up yet with all of the alarms going off? He knocked on Lance’s door and when he heard no reply, walked into the room. He realized that the reason that Lance wasn’t awake yet was most likely due to the headphones in his ears, blasting ocean sounds loud enough to be heard from the doorway. Keith shook his head in amusement, walked over to Lance, and shook him awake.

Lance groggily opened his eyes and took off his headphones, which looked like they had been cobbled together by Pidge, out of spare parts. “K-Keith... What are you doing in my room?” Lance yawned while stretching.

“Everyone else thinks you were kidnapped or killed, because you disappeared from your cryopod in the middle of the night.” Keith said bluntly.

Lance’s eyes immediately shot open. “ _Quiznak _” He scrambled out of bed and threw on normal clothes over his pyjamas. “We need to go explain what happened.”__

__The paladins ran up to the bridge, where everyone else in the castle was waiting expectantly, including the spirits. Shiro spoke, “Lance, why are you out of your pod early? Did it malfunction?”_ _

__

__“I’m not really sure. Keith told me that I wasn’t supposed to be out for another 2 days.” Lance looked at Coran. “Did you maybe read the pod wrong?”_ _

__Coran stroked his moustache and said, “I don’t believe so, but I guess it's possible. I could go check again if you’d like.” But before anyone could reply, Kasel spoke up._ _

__“I believe I know what happened.” Kasel addressed the Paladins and other spirits. “The cryopods work by injecting quintessence into your body safely so that it heals injuries at a rapid pace. However, when Haggar separated our,” Kasel gestured to the Spirits, “quintessence from the Lions, not all of it was needed to create these bodies, so majority of our quintessence was left in the Lions, or inside those inside the Lions, you paladins. The Lions need to generate quintessence at a rapid rate to keep running without having to recharge, and the way that the quintessence was separated, that property came with it. Therefore, all of you paladins are currently each generating enough quintessence to support over 10,000 humans every second. Because of this, as Lance demonstrated, you paladins are able to heal injuries at an incredible rate, as there is so much quintessence being channeled through your bodies.” Here Kasel paused and appeared to think for a moment. “Because of this, it would theoretically be possible for you to be able to channel your quintessence.”_ _

__Pidge interjected, “Wait, what do you mean, channel your quintessence? Like what the Olkari did on Olkarion with changing the genetic makeup of plants and being able to manipulate metal?”_ _

__Kasel was struggling to find the words to explain it. “Not… exactly. More like you are able divert your quintessence to change yourself and your surroundings. At first you may be able to just move the elements. But eventually, as you gain more experience, you may be able to shape them.”_ _

__“Elements?” Pidge questioned, obviously eager._ _

__Kasel replied, clarifying, “Yes, elements. Each person’s quintessence is different and unique to them, so it will be channelled differently than everyone else’s. Your personality and soul, the very thing that makes you, you will be what decides what aspects you control, and it is already somewhat reflected in your Lions. I am no expert on this as it has never been done before, but I may be able to offer some guidance as the Spirits have some measure of control over our on quintessence.” Kasel explained. She looked at Lance. “Lance you will likely be able to manipulate water and moisture.” Next she addressed Keith. “If I am not mistaken, you will be able to manipulate fire and heat.” Next came Hunk. “Hunk, due to your caring nature and the yellow Lion, I assume you will be able to manipulate the rocks, and perhaps healing by being able to divert some of your quintessence.” Next came the second youngest member of the team. “Pidge, I believe that you will be able to manipulate nature and control tech, to a certain extent.” Finally, Space Dad’s turn. “Shiro, you will be able to control air and lightning in a certain amount, due to piloting the black lion.” Then Kasel addressed the Alteans. “Sadly, as you two were not inside the Lions at the time, you will not be able to easily manipulate your quintessence, but it may be possible, as you have 10,000 years of quintessence being stored inside you.”_ _

__Just then a thought occurred to Hunk. “Wait a second, if we have all of this quintessence inside of us, then won’t what happened to Zarkon and Haggar happen to us too?”_ _

__Kasel considered this for a moment, and then replied, “That is almost impossible to happen, unintentionally. Think of quintessence as water. Every living thing needs a constant supply of water to stay alive. Zarkon and Haggar spent a long, long time sitting in an ocean of quintessence, however, the condition that happened to you Paladins, is more like being in a river of quintessence. It is constantly flowing through you, able to be controlled to a certain extent, but you cannot sit in a pool of it, so you will not be corrupted.”_ _

__Hunk nodded in understanding and said, “Oh okay, that's really good. Thanks. I just wanted to make sure my friends didn’t turn into crazy purple people that hate everyone.”_ _

__Then Allura spoke, “Paladins, this ability… it could give us an advantage over Lotor and Haggar! We could end this war against the Galra… forever!”_ _

__All of the paladins visibly got excited at the news, but then Shiro spoke, “But… we can’t do that unless we learn how to harness and use our quintessence, which means training. Paladins, I expect all of you in the training room by 0900 vargas to begin training. You have until then to eat breakfast or do whatever else before training.”_ _

__The paladins all groaned and left the bridge._ _

__

__\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_ _

__(Lotor’s Ship)_ _

__“Emperor, the ships have been collected, and we are on our way to retrieve the body of previous emperor Zarkon now. The mission should be completed in the next 1-3 quintaints.” Zethrid’s voice said over the transmission._ _

__“Excellent. Dismissed.”_ _

__The transmission cut off, leaving the throne room in darkness._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo I don't know how long until the next update, but good news! I do have a basic plot(?) for this thing, and I already have all of the powers and stuff planned out, you shall see what is in store. Anways, I hope you enjoyed and I guess I'll see y'all next time. (I'm not Texan)


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